The Dangerous Drawbacks of Urban Living

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Avoiding the crowd is a theme you will regularly find on Yoursurvivalguy.com. In matters of investing and personal security, avoiding crowd behavior can be the best decision you can make.

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There’s no place more crowded in America than its big cities, places like New York, San Francisco, and LA. The big cities host an amazing collection of cultural attractions, landmarks, exceptional cuisine, big businesses, and the nightlife many young people crave.

Those attractions draw millions to tightly packed urban living. That’s the benefit of city life. But there are drawbacks.

In the New York Intelligencer, Justin Davidson suggests that “The Coronavirus Threatens Everything That Makes New York Great.” He writes:

A few weeks ago, I found myself in an eerily quiet Chinatown during the Lunar New Year. The police had blocked off entire blocks for crowds that never showed up. A few troupes of celebrants beat drums and carried paper dragons through empty streets. Restaurants that are reliably packed on a Saturday afternoon stood vacant and glum. At the time, it seemed like an aberration. This year’s plague, the novel coronavirus, was still largely confined to Wuhan, China, and the neighborhood’s abandonment felt like alarmism tinged with prejudice.

But the virus has finally arrived. And when, as seems likely, the latest superbug starts whipping around, borne from borough to borough by subway, sneeze, and the interconnectedness of all New Yorkers — we will collectively have to decide whether we to turn the city into an outsized version of that surreal day in Chinatown.

The virus feeds on proximity, and proximity defines the city. Call it energy, congestion, convenience, bustle, efficiency, claustrophobia, culture, or the anonymity of crowds — those qualities that make New York New York depend on large numbers of people huddling together. The virus — and the fear of the virus — threaten to do what terrorism and crime never could: clear the streets and turn us into 8.6 million misanthropic agoraphobes, unwilling to commute, eat out, and exercise our constitutional right to congregate.

In 2015, my father-in-law, Dick Young examined the scenario urban dwellers would face in a disaster situation. His focus was an EMP attack. He wrote:

One second your family home has power. The next second—click—the power is out and could stay out for days, weeks or longer. Sound impossible? Not at all. How do you rate the worldwide radical Muslim security risk today? I research and write about risk weekly and today rate our risk at maximum. The media plays down the risk because 99% of Americans are completely unprepared for an extended power outage. I have written for years about the savage effects of a terrorist-led EMP attack. If EMP is a subject that is foreign to you, you need to read the material I have provided for you on this site.

Losing power is no joke and quite possibly life-threatening. A few days ago the juice clicked off here in Key West. This time our battery-backed solar had to keep Debbie and me up and running for only a half hour or so (past outages have been longer). Key West is a tropical island 150 miles from Miami and only 90 miles from Cuba. so it makes sense to be prepared at all times. And yes, I may be much more paranoid than you. Most people, however, have a vested interest in a lack of paranoia theme as they have done squat about emergency preparation. Hunkered down in a 50th floor co-op in Manhattan (what mind-blowing vulnerability), sequestered in a manicured suburban enclave, or simply mindlessly isolated in some impossible to defend (24/7) rural setting, the results would be the same. No water for six days, and the whole crowd will not have to worry about anything ever again.

Picture this. Your spouse is beavering away on Wall Street in some high-rise glass office building when your phone clicks off, the giant Sub Zero refrigerator and wine cooler crank down along with all the lights and air conditioning. The Suburban sits in the driveway with the gas gauge probably near zero because you have been too lazy to keep the beast filled. And the kids? All at school. Just great! What’s your move now?

Your goose is cooked. You had better drop to your knees and pray that the juice is out because some neighbor has lost attention and driven into a power pole. Any extended outage and you are an ill-prepared sitting duck.

Don’t put yourself at the mercy of crowds. Have a plan to evacuate if necessary. Keep reliable communications on hand. And be prepared to escape the city.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.